The Allan Lane Foundation is offering grants of between £5,000 and £25,000 to charities and not-for-profit organisations working with young people aged 12-21 who are socially excluded or marginalised, and who may have experienced significant issues within their lives.
The grants can be used to support a range of activities, including core costs, project work, and capital expenditure.
The Foundation is particularly interested in supporting organisations that focus their work on:
- Young people within the criminal justice system or those at risk of offending
- Looked after children or care leavers
- Those with significant mental health concerns or complex needs
- Young people who have been traumatised by challenging family backgrounds, neglect, violence or abuse
- Those that have fallen through the gaps in care and/or education
- Those already affected by, or vulnerable to, exploitation
- Whose experiences could seriously impact their transition into adulthood.
To maximise the impact of its grants, the Foundation will only fund smaller organisations. Organisations that work across a local area, such as a village, estate, or town, must have an annual income of less than £100,000 to be eligible. Organisations that work across the entire UK must have an annual income of less than £250,000 to be eligible.
A small number of grants have already been awarded to work with young people, including funding for a crisis drop-in for young people who have been sexually abused in Dundee; a young parents project in Bolton; funding for a youth worker to support teenagers with autism in Northern Ireland; a drama and arts project aimed at young people with a history of offending in Jaywick, Essex.